No funds for upkeep, Amritsar's ‘Agosh’ School for special children faces closure

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 6

‘Agosh’, a society running a school for special children is currently on the verge of closure for want of funds. The school has been reeling under acute shortage of funds owing to curfew as well as lockdown.

It has been learnt that the owner of the building in which the school is being run, has demanded the rent amounting to Rs 1 lakh, besides other expenditures. The school was found in 2012 by Kawaljit Singh and his wife Maninderjit Kaur with just two students. Now it has a strength of 64 students.

Maninderjit Kaur said the school was founded with an aim to provide a holistic development to the specially-abled children.

Earlier, philanthropists running various NGOs used to donate funds for running the school. However, following imposition of curfew and lockdown restrictions, they had to struggle to stay afloat. They even spent their funds in providing food and essentials to the people during the curfew.

Maninderjit Kaur used to run a boutique when she decided to open a school for providing quality education to the specially- abled children. She was disappointed with the quality of education in the school where her adopted specially-abled daughter Diljot Kaur was studying. She said she had to wind up her boutique to devote her full time towards running the ‘Agosh’ School. She also found a society ‘Agosh - holding hands’ for this purpose.

She said they were finding it difficult to run the school during these troubled times. Parents of the children studying in the school also expressed their inability to pay the school fee. Maninderjit Kaur urged the district administration and philanthropists to come forward for help.